“The world is closely watching whether we can dismantle the (Fukushima) plant, including the issue of contaminated water,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “The government is determined to work hard to resolve the issue.”

This is quite a change from previous statements the prime minister has made. In a speech Sept. 7 in front of the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires, Abe stated categorically, “Let me assure you the situation (the contaminated groundwater problem) is under control.”

Six days later, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, disputed the prime minister’s claim at a meeting in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.

“We regard the current situation as not being under control,” said Kazuhiko Yamashita, a senior official at Tepco.

Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympic Games following Abe’s speech.

“The quantities of water they are dealing with are absolutely gigantic,” said Mycle Schneider, an independent consultant who has previously advised the French and German governments and has consulted widely for a variety of organizations and countries on nuclear issues. “What is worse is the water leakage everywhere else – not just from the tanks. It is leaking out from the basements, it is leaking out from the cracks all over the place. Nobody can measure that.”

It is clear that the repercussions from this disaster are far from over.

There has been a debate over the size of the Pacific Ocean and the quantity of the contamination. Some say that even though the U.S. is directly across the ocean from the accident, the volume of the water will easily disperse the contaminants.

Others say the particular isotopes from the reactor do not disperse easily and don’t sink to the bottom. They remain in the water column, from top to bottom.

In this last scenario, sea life has a much greater chance of contacting and carrying the suspended radiation. They either breathe it or eat it in others. Scientists are watching carefully for any signs of contamination in the ocean’s biosphere.

According to Maxim Shingarkin, deputy chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee for Natural Resources, “Currents in the world ocean are so structured that the areas of seafood capture near the U.S. northwest coast are more likely to contain radioactive nuclides than even the Sea of Okhotsk, which is much closer to Japan. These products are the main danger for mankind because they can find their way to people’s tables on a massive scale.”

This is an issue of significant importance to the United States since, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. imported almost 45 million pounds of fish from Japan in 2012…….

The events in the Pacific Rim do not seem to be isolated incidents. They may not be provocative. The oceans are large, and they contain a massive population of species that get sick from time to time. But they are in numbers that warrant an in-depth discovery and full disclosure.

Radiation is found everywhere in the world, so some radiation in food can be expected. How much is a safe level seems to vary over time. Immediately following the World War II atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, American military construction crews were sent into the cities to clear irradiated rubble, telling the crews that the work was safe.

Only years later did they find out it wasn’t safe, and that serious, permanent injury resulted from working in the area.

Gordon McDonald, Ph.D, executive director of Research for the Koinonia Institute, contributed to this report.

The global movement for a clean non nuclear future – theme for March 2015

The nuclear lobby, the corporate establishment, governments and the mainstream media just don’t “get it”. But the world is moving away from top-down, centrally organised, vertically structured systems. Nuclear power, even that last ditch hope, “little” nuclear reactors – all are part of the out-dated systems.

There’s still a place for some centralised systems, with renewable energy transported by the grid. But along with the now horizontally organised communications – net-working across the world, grow the flexible and versatile systems of decentralised electricity generation.

Above all – the ever more rapid spread of ideas and campaigns. Some, we know, are harmful campaigns. But the movement for clean energy is unstoppable – spreading as it does from person to person – not relying on organisation by authorities and experts.

Indigenous campaigns lead the way – whether it be in America, Australia, Malaysia – indigenous peoples have already shown how they can slow down, even stop, the nuclear juggernaut.